Defining and measuring "professionalism" in academic occupational therapy (OT) programs is a highly interpretative and formidable task, as evidenced in the literature and revised language in the 2023 ACOTE® Standards. Within the context of a university assessment workshop, a team of OT educators and students used an occupation- and…

The 2023 National Resident Matching Program Applicant Survey revealed that 45% of applicants viewed an institution's diversity as a factor when selecting a program. In light of Texas Senate Bill 17 (SB-17), which regulates institutions' DEI efforts, becoming effective January 1st, 2024, we aim to assess the status of DEI-relevant information on…

The conceptual complexity of employability remains a barrier for its integration into discipline-based curricula. In the health professions, a particular challenge lies in integrating employability with the dominant paradigms of competency and professionalism. In this study, we explore these contextual challenges, and present the rationale and…

Instructors in the Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) work within the Diagnostic Laboratories and volunteer as adjunct instructors for the educational program. Instructors do not receive training when they assume this role and must learn how to teach while actively creating and modifying…

Many healthcare professions struggle with knowing what the entry-level educational requirement should be for their profession. This study looked at the educational level of hiring managers for respiratory therapy and whether that affected their decisions on hiring associate or baccalaureate degree graduates in the state of Pennsylvania. The…

When transitioning to higher education, students need to develop the skills to become self-regulated learners capable of setting their own learning goals and planning and monitoring their learning. Self-regulated learning and academic performance have been shown to positively correlate with effective time management and study skills. There are…

Mentoring can help leaders to develop a critical consciousness which incorporates a critical analysis that fosters understanding of structural and institutional stances that impact social determinants of health, access to healthcare, and health outcomes.

When teaching infection prevention and control (IPC), nursing education tends to focus on skills and fostering good practice rather than challenging students' thinking. Therefore, students' misconceptions about IPC receive less attention than they deserve. The purpose of the study was to make an inventory of student nurses' misconceptions about…

Professional practice placements are an essential component of allied health and nursing programs. Whilst most students pass these placements, a small percentage of students will fail or be at risk of failing. Supporting students undergoing a failing experience is a time critical, time consuming, emotional and resource-heavy task which is often…

Objective: Describe the learning activities that occupational therapy students found helpful for learning the concept of occupation and describe what students know about the concept of occupation. Design: Descriptive correlational. Setting: Occupational therapy program in the U.S. Participants: Occupational therapy students. Measure: Survey.…

Standardized patient encounters are being utilized more often in occupational therapy education as a replacement for traditional fieldwork. While there is a growing body of research to support the use of this model in developing student skillsets and confidence, there remains limited information on the topic, and no studies which look at its use…

Innovative teaching approaches are changing traditional approaches by using a variety of teaching and learning methods to allow learners to succeed. This paper describes a new instructional model for healthcare education based on the science of learning, educational theories, and best practices in lesson design. The Visualize Whole-Self (VW) Model…

Health professions faculty are traditionally experts in their respective fields and are prepared to teach students from their own profession, but rarely receive training concerning implementation of interprofessional education. The problem addressed by this research was that most health professions educators are not prepared to facilitate…

Context: Low salary is a frequently cited reason for attrition from the athletic training profession. Researchers have determined that athletic trainers (ATs) entering the first hiring process, usually newly credentialed graduates of professional athletic training programs (ATPs), are the least likely to negotiate, resulting in lowered earning…

The supporting evidence for student-centered assessment practices is well-documented in the literature for higher education, but not in the field of occupational therapy (OT) education. There is no agreed-upon best practice for student assessment in OT education from any professional OT governing body, nor is there current OT education research…